HHS Is Accused of Failing to Act on Lab Test Law

WASHINGTON — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) has accused the Department of Health and Human Services of failing to take steps mandated by law to improve testing standards and accuracy in the nation’s 300,000 medical laboratories.

Three years after Congress enacted a law requiring HHS to set performance standards for medical testing laboratories and to certify the labs, “not one component of that critical public health legislation is in place,” Dingell charged.

The law was passed after investigations found that medical laboratories made many errors in crucial tests. At some laboratories, for example, false negative results in Pap tests to detect cervical cancer ran as high as 55%.

In a June 3 letter to HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, Dingell said a recent hearing “raised serious doubts about (HHS’) commitment to implement” the law and that testimony from two key department officials--Gail R. Wilensky, administrator of the agency that manages Medicare, and William L. Roper, director of the Centers for Disease Control--”suggested that they questioned even the need for the act.”